Tag: sfwa

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) today announced that the 2015 recipient of the 31st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is none other than one of our favorite authors, Larry Niven!

The multiple Hugo and Nebula winning author is best known for his Ringworld novels that helped define the megastructure genre, but he was also a prolific writer of short stories set within multiple universes, and teamed up well with other authors, notably Jerry Pournelle, with whom he shared several Hugo and Nebula nominated novels.

SFWA President Steven Gould said, “One of the great honors of being SFWA president is the announcing the latest Grandmaster recipient. One of the drawbacks is only getting to name one at a time when we have several worthy candidates. I take great pleasure in naming Larry Niven as this year’s Damon Knight Memorial Grandmaster. As Lev Grossman said in Time Magazine about Niven’s work, “It’s a bravura demonstration of technology and psychology both playing off and feeding back into each other. This feedback loop — so fundamental to great science fiction’s power — is at the heart of Niven’s work: we create tools, and our tools shape the world, but they also shape us, in unintended and unexpected ways.”

“I’ve always wanted one of these. It does definitely mean I’ve gotten old,” said Niven. “I’ve been publishing fiction for more than fifty years now. I’m convinced I picked the right career.”

I sadly report that according to Emily Pohl-Weary, his grandaughter, via a tweet, SFWA Grand Master Frederik Pohl passed away at the age of 93.

Pohl was named the 12th Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America organization back in 1993, and served as its president from 1974-1976. He won the Hugo Award in 1978 for Gateway, three more as editor of If Magazine from 1966-1968, and Nebulas in 1976 for Man Plus and 1977 for Gateway.